Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $52.37 and last traded at $52.15, with a volume of 307425 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $50.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SW. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Smurfit Westrock from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.43.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $26.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 285.93 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 2.18.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.06). Smurfit Westrock had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.98%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.91 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.3025 per share. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 672.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Company Profile

Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box.